DANIA BEACH, Fla. — Students in Broward County got a chance Wednesday to hear first-hand accounts of the Holocaust from those who survived the horror.
They know they’re likely the last generation to have the opportunity to make such one-on-one connections, as the number of living survivors continues to dwindle.
The Holocaust Documentation and Education Center in Dania Beach hosted an “interactive student awareness day,” where young people had the opportunity to meet Rodi Glass.
Glass, 89, is one of an estimated 196,600 living Jewish Holocaust survivors, according to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. (Read her story below.)
“I was 4 years old in 1940 when World War II started in the Netherlands, when we were occupied by the German army,” she said. “My father’s whole family ― his sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews were all murdered. I always say nobody died in the camp, everybody was murdered.”
Sixteen-year-old Laura Buitrago Caballaro, a 10th grader at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, brimmed with admiration as she was able to experience an important opportunity she knows not many more will get to receive.
“We are going to be the last ones to be able to talk to people who went through it,” Buitrago said. “I think we have to be more into it, learn more about it in school and be grateful we are able to do this.”
The connection the two made led to a commitment to sharing the lessons learned.
“I will,” Buitrago told Glass. “I promise.”
Center president Rositta Kenigsberg, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, said some students even stay in touch with the survivors they meet.
Kenigsberg said it comes as younger people deal with a climate of “rampant” hatred, prejudice and antisemitism, particularly on social media. In meeting survivors, she said, “they have a conversation they won’t have with anyone else.”
“I think this is one of the most incredible opportunities for a young person ― a student ― to really understand first hand about what the Holocaust is about," she said. “To come face to face with a Holocaust survivor who is there, telling their story ― history comes to life. Biblically, spiritually, they say ‘If you save a life, you save the world.’“
That, Kenigsberg said, presents the opportunity to “change one heart, one mind” and to bring newfound compassion and understanding to the world.
Buitrago said what she found most inspiring about meeting Glass is an underpinning message of hope and resilience.
“People can be mean and evil, but at the end, you always have to remember what is good and continue with life,” she said. “It showed me that no matter what you have to continue with life. You have to move on. Not forget, but embrace it and move on.”
Glass said being able to share her story helps young people know “what can happen when you listen to people and do not think about what they are saying.”
“Education is so important,” she said. “Don’t believe everything you hear, you have to be a little skeptical about what people are saying ― and war is bad, no matter where it is, no matter who it is, there is no such thing as a ‘nice war’ because people get killed. Innocent people get killed.”
To schedule a visit or field trip to the center or to learn more about it, visit its website.
RODI GLASS' STORY
I was 4 years old in 1940 when World War II started in the Netherlands, when we were occupied by the German army. I remember when the Germans occupied, they first said this would be very nice, but that was not true. They changed the Jewish people’s lives by making all kinds of rules and therefore I did not have an education until I came out of the camps at nine years old. I knew how to read when I was 4 years old and that is about where I started when I was 9.
As a child I didn’t really know what occupation was but I knew my family was trying everything they could to survive. We were sent to France, as luck would have it, my mother was born in England, and we became prisoners of war. We were liberated in 1944 by the most wonderful army in the world, the American army. We were liberated from the German oppression but we didn’t have a life, after the war, we had no possessions, we were displaced persons, only to find out that my father’s whole family, his sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews were all murdered.
I always say nobody died in the camp, everybody was murdered. I have been speaking about the Holocaust since 1988 I think the young people should know what can happen when you listen to people and do not think about what they are saying, education is so important, don’t believe everything you hear, you have be to a little be skeptical about what people are saying and war is bad no matter where it is, no matter who it is, there is no such thing as a ‘nice war’ because people get killed, innocent people get killed.
Why did Hitler consider us ‘undesirables’? We never did anything to the German people, to his country Austria, we never killed anybody, we didn’t start a war, we’ve educated a lot of people, we have invested a lot of things, why do people hate us so much? I am still waiting for answer. I don’t think I will ever get one, an answer that will be satisfactory.
I have been very lucky, and I so love having my children and grandchildren and I am even blessed with five great-grandchildren, so that is my revenge.
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